Chicken Cacciatore

This is a great low-fat meal, and it's so easy to make!  We served it over pasta.

I found this recipe in Candace Anderson's The Everything Freezer Meals Cookbook.  I'll be making this for our February freezer cooking get-together this month. 

INGREDIENTS:
* 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
* 1 onion, sliced into rings
* 1 green bell pepper, sliced
* 1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 2 (6-oz) cans tomato paste
* 1/4 cup red wine
* 1 cup water
* 1 (14.5 oz) can stewed tomatoes with liquid
* 1 tsp dried oregano
* 1/2 tsp dried basil
* 1/2 tsp salt (used a little more)
* 1/4 tsp black pepper (used a little more)

DIRECTIONS:
Freezing Day--Put chicken, onions, peppers, and mushrooms in a freezer bag.  In a separate bowl, mix the remaining ingredients and pour over the chicken.  Freeze.

Reheating Instructions--Defrost in refrigerator overnight.  Put in slow-cooker and cook 7-9 hours on low.  Add additional water if needed.

Chicken Parisienne

This was my contribution to January's freezer cooking session.  Super easy to make, and love that it's a "dump" meal, meaning that you dump all ingredients in a bag, freeze, thaw, and into the crock pot it goes!  This recipe came from the Don't Panic---Dinner's in the Freezer cookbook (by:  Martinez, Howell, and Garcia).


INGREDIENTS:
*1/2 cup white wine
*1 can cream of mushroom soup, 10oz (used reduced-fat)
*1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
*1/4 cup flour
*1 cup sour cream (used reduced-fat)
*6 boned chicken breasts (used 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts)
Serving Day:
*Salt, pepper, and paprika

DIRECTIONS:
1.)  Mix wine, soup, and mushrooms together.  In a separate bowl, stir flour and sour cream together, then add to soup mixture.  Place mixture together with chicken in freezer bag, mix together.  Freeze, using freezer bag method.

2)  Serving Day:  Thaw overnight in fridge.  Place mixture from bag into crock pot.  Sprinkle salt, pepper, and paprika over top.  Cover, cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.  Serve with pasta or potatoes.

Slow Cooker Pepper Steak

Nate has been complaining of eating chicken all of the time...at home and at the fire house...so...I found a great slow cooker beef recipe.  It's actually very healthy, since the cut of meat (sirloin) is lean and low-fat.  And a great way to incorporate veggies for my picky guys!  I found this off of allrecipes.com.


INGREDIENTS:

• 2 pounds beef sirloin, cut into 2 inch strips
• garlic powder to taste
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cube beef bouillon
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 large green bell peppers, roughly chopped
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes, with liquid
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Sprinkle strips of sirloin with garlic powder to taste. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the vegetable oil and brown the seasoned beef strips. Transfer to a slow cooker.
2. Mix bouillon cube with hot water until dissolved, then mix in cornstarch until dissolved. Pour into the slow cooker with meat. Stir in onion, green peppers, stewed tomatoes, soy sauce, sugar, and salt.
3. Cover, and cook on High for 3 to 4 hours, or on Low for 6 to 8 hours.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

This was a hit...and so easy to make! Found it off my favorite allrecipes.com. I've made it twice, with the second time forgetting to add butter, and it still tasted great!

INGREDIENTS:
*4 skinless boneless chicken breasts (we used about 1.5lbs)
*2 T. butter
*2 (10.25 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup (used 1 regular, and 1 light/low-fat)
*1 onion (finely chopped)
*2 (10 ounce) pkgs. refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces (we only used one can)
*1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth

DIRECTIONS:
1. Place the chicken, butter, soup, and onion in a slow cooker, and fill with enough water (we used a can of chicken broth instead) to cover.

2. Cover, and cook for 5 to 6 hours on High. About 30 minutes before serving, place the torn biscuit dough in the slow cooker. Cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center. (I added the biscuits once the chicken was cooked through, and then just kept checking on it until the biscuits looked done)

We served this over egg noodles along with a salad. :)

(NOTE: Cook times vary according to the size of your crock pot. Our crock pot is a 6 qt, so it cooked faster than in the directions)

Beef Stew with Chocolate

Who can go wrong with a recipe that includes chocolate and red wine? I found this recipe by Sandra Lee on the Foodnetwork.com. This was a yummy beef stew recipe...great flavor! We served it with biscuits. Perfect for a cool Fall day :)

INGREDIENTS:
*2 lbs. beef stew meat, cut into bite-size pieces
*1 tsp salt (we used sea salt), plus more for seasoning
*1 tsp ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
*1 T. all-purpose flour
*2 T. canola oil
*1 cup frozen sliced carrots (we used fresh)
*1 8-oz pkg sliced brown mushrooms (we omitted)
*3 cups diced red potatoes
*1 (14.5-oz) can diced tomatoes
*2 T. finely grated bittersweet chocolate
*1 tsp crushed garlic
*1 pkt meatloaf seasoning (we used McCormick)
*1 (14oz) can low-sodium beef broth
*1 cup red wine, preferably Merlot
*1 leek, white part only, sliced and drained

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large bowl combine beef stew meat, salt, pepper and flour. Toss until beef is well coated.

2. Heat the canola in a large saute pan over high heat. Add seasoned beef and sear on all sides until brown and caramelized. Remove to a plate and set aside.

3. Combine seared beef, carrots, mushrooms, potatoes and tomatoes in a 4-quart slow cooker.

4. In a medium bowl, stir together grated chocolate, garlic, meatloaf packet, beef broth, and red wine. Pour into slow cooker and sprinkle the leeks over the top. Cover and cook on HIGH setting for 4 to 6 hours.

5. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Enjoy!

Crock Pot Round Steak

I found this on Stephanie Cooks . I had modified it since I couldn't find a good cut of London broil at the local store. In cooking this recipe, I have realized we need a smaller (3-4qt) crock pot. I made this in our 6qt one, and this cooked a lot faster than I had wanted. This was yummy, but the meat was too chewy. Will definitely make this again in our new crock pot! We both loved the sauce...so simple, yet flavorful. We paired this with Oven Roasted Potatoes...and our favorite green beans with almonds.


INGREDIENTS:
2 pounds flank steak (we used round steak)
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup
1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix

DIRECTIONS:
1. Place meat in the bottom of the slow cooker; if necessary, slice meat to make it fit!

2. In a medium bowl, mix together mushroom and tomato soup. Pour mixture over beef. Sprinkle dry onion soup mix over top.

3. Cover, and cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours (our too-big crock pot cooked this in 2 hours...oops).

Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff

* 1 1/2 lbs. cubed beef stew meat
* 2 (10.75 oz.) cans condensed golden mushroom soup
* 1/2 C. chopped onion
* 1 T. Worcestershire sauce
* 1/2 C. water
* 6 oz. cream cheese
* 1 packet onion soup mix
* 1 cube beef bullion
* “dollop” of sour cream
* 1 pkg. wide egg noodles, cooked

1. In a slow cooker, combine meat, soup, onion, Worcestershire sauce, water, onion soup mix, and bullion cube. Cook on LOW setting for about 5 to 6 hours (if you have a larger crock pot, it may cook faster…so just keep an eye on it).

2. Cook egg noodles as directed on packaging. Add to crock pot.

3. Stir in cream cheese and “dollop” of sour cream just before serving. Mix well until blended. Enjoy!